Informant's treatment is test of Pakistani loyalty

ON PAKISTAN

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, February 2, 2012

Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images

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ARLINGTON, VA - JANUARY 26: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta conducts a briefing on major budget decisions stemming from the defense strategic guidance at the Pentagon January 26, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. During the briefing, Panetta announced that budget cutting measures will likely limit pay increases for troops, increase the cost of health insurance fees for military retirees and possibly close military bases in the United States. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) less

ARLINGTON, VA - JANUARY 26: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta conducts a briefing on major budget decisions stemming from the defense strategic guidance at the Pentagon January 26, 2012 in Arlington, ... more

Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images

Informant's treatment is test of Pakistani loyalty

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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has raised some very legitimate questions that go to the heart of Pakistan's commitment to stopping terrorism. In unusually blunt language, Panetta challenged Pakistan's plans to try Dr. Shakeel Afridi - the doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden - on charges of treason.

Afridi's assistance should not be considered an act of treason for a nation ostensibly engaged with the United States in the fight against global terrorism.

Panetta also expressed disbelief in the Pakistani government's insistence that it had no suspicions that bin Laden was hiding in the Abbottabad compound that had 18-foot walls and odd comings and goings.

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The defense secretary acknowledged that he did not have "any hard evidence" that anyone in the Pakistani government knew of bin Laden's whereabouts. But his suspicions are more than plausible, especially considering that the compound was near a Pakistani military academy, and about 35 miles from the capital, Islamabad.

"It was the largest compound in the area," Panetta said on "60 Minutes" Sunday. "So, you would have thought that somebody would have asked the question, 'What the hell's going on there.' "

Pakistan's cooperation would have made last year's raid on the bin Laden compound eminently easier - and far less risky to the Navy SEALs who performed the operation. But the Obama administration's refusal to even give Pakistan any advance notice was an indication of the level of distrust between the two nations. This attempt to prosecute the doctor for his brave efforts to help find the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks validates the White House apprehensions about Pakistan.

The Obama administration should keep up the pressure on Pakistan to drop all charges against Afridi, who ran a fake vaccination program to try to obtain DNA samples of the bin Laden family. Pakistan needs to more clearly delineate its allies and enemies - and the United States deserves to know the reliability of its partner in a critical part of the world. The treatment of Afridi is a good test of Pakistan's loyalties.